Method of smoking meats



2 Sheets-Sheet l lNvENoR ATTORNEY L. LAUBHAM METHOD OF SMOKING MEATS Filed Aug. l2, 1930 July l0, 1934.

NN QM.

July 10, 1934. L. LAUBHAM 1,965,960

METHOD 0F SMOKING MEATS Filed Aug. 12, 195o 2 sheets-sheet 2 ...agneau ATTORN EY Patented July 10, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application August 12,

2 Claims.

'Ihis invention relates to improvements in apparatus for and method of smoking meats.

In the smoking of meats, as heretofore practiced, the product was suspended within a smoking chamber and heat supplied by gas burners which function to both heat the meat to open its pores and to burn the sawdust to produce smoke which penetrates the open pores to cure or iiavor the meat.

The open pores freely absorb the deleterious fumes of the gases and excessive heating causes the fat meats to drip into the sawdust which very frequently ignites and causes the meat to burn.

The present invention is designed to overcome these diiliculties by eliminating gas as a heating medium thereby obviating the unhealthy and unwholesome effect of the gas on the treated product.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide a method of treating meat by the use of dry steam heated and ilavored air and by employing a novel method of applying avoring qualities thereto.

A further object of the invention is to provide apparatus which may be adapted to provide proper regulation of the curing temperature which shall be further adapted to charge the smoke passing to the treating chamber with a flavoring material.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of apparatus of simple compact construction which shall be relatively inexpensive to manufacture and which shall be adapted in the smoking of meatsto produce a product of a very high and uniform quality.

These and other objects will become more apparent from a consideration of the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters designate like parts and in which Fig. l is a view diagrammatically illustrating apparatus for smoking meats embodying the principles of this invention; Fig. 2 a top plan View of the heating chamber, and Fig. 3 a sectional elevational view of the chamber of Fig. 2 and auxiliary apparatus, the character of which will be hereinafter described.

With reference to the several figures of the drawings, reference character 1 generally designates an enclosure divided into compartments 2 and 3 by a perforated partition member 4. The upper compartment constitutes the treating chamber in which the meats, such as sausage 5 or bacon 6 and the like, are suspended from rails 7, the interior of the chamber being accessible through a. door 8.

1930, Serial No. 474.846 (Cl. 99-9) The chamber 3 below the treating chamber is herein referred to as the smoke chamber and is accessible through a door 9.

The bottom of chamber 3 is provided with a pair of burners 10 having connections 11 with a gas supply line 12. The burners 10 are adapted to ignite sawdust 13 which is banked on both sides of the burner to produce the smoke, and after the sawdust has been ignited by the burners shutting off the gas supply at valve 12b and turning on a hot air blast which is connected to the gas pipe at 12a. Above the burners are located the outlet nozzles 14 of pipes 15 leading to a pipe line 16 which communicates with a heating chamber generally designated at 17 through a plurality of 'I0 blowers 18. The pipe lines 15 are controlled by valves 15a.

There are two burners on opposite sides of the smoke chamber and there are two sets of the hot air supply nozzles 14 in alinement with the burners. For the purpose of concentrating the application of heat and flavor near the center of thetreating chamber, additional nozzles 19 are provided which, through suitable piping, communicate with the pipe line 16 for the purpose hereinafter set forth.

With reference to Figures 2 and 3 of the drawings, the heating chamber 17 is therein illustrated as provided with a steam line 20 which is coiled in the manner shown to extend through a substantial portion of the chamber in both a vertical and lateral direction. The steam line 20 is provided with a valve 21 to shut olf the supply of steam or to regulate the volume thereof and at its other end it is provided with a drain 22. A connection 23 may be provided in the drain line whereby the steam, after it has passed through the coil 20, may be conducted to another heating chamber for use in the smoking-of meats which require lower heating temperatures.

Air is supplied to the heating chamber 17 through a nozzle 24 which is preferably located at the bottom of the chamber and offset, as shown in Fig. 2. The amount of air entering the chamber 17 may be controlled by a valve 25 and by control of a pair of suction fans or blowers 18 which are located at the top of the heating chamber and at the opposite side of the air inlet 24 so that when the blowers are in operation the air is drawn from the inlet across the heating chamber through the banks of steam coils whereby it is heated and conducted to the pipe line 16 leading to the smoke chamber 3.

Artificial or natural flavoring materials may be employed to charge the heated air before it passes to the smoke chamber and may be applied by means of the following apparatus: A steam tank 26 is provided on the exterior of the heating chamber 17. The top of tank 26 is removable to provide access to a perforated basket 27 in which the natural spices are contained as in a coffee percolator, and the basket 27 is submerged in water which is heated by a steam line 28 having a regulator 28a and a valve 29. A valve controlled drain 30 is provided at the bottom of tank 26.

Liquid flavoring extracts may also be employed either in place of the natural spices in the perforated container 27 or in conjunction therewith, and such flavoring may be utilized either separately or a blended flavor may be obtained by means of the following apparatus: ixplurality of liquid containers 31 are supported on\a suitable rack 32 and are severally provided with outlet connections 33 leading to a manifold 34 which constitutes a hot water supply line wherein the oW of water is controlled by valve 35. Each of the outlet connections 33 is provided with valves 36 to control the ow tothe manifold and from there to the steam tank 26. A valve 37 is provided to control the flow of hot Water and flavor to the steam tank 26.

Steam is generated in the tank 26 and is condutced through a connection 38 leading to the interior of the heating chamber 17 to a superheater 39. The dry superheated steam is conducted through an outlet connection 41 to a spray nozzle 42 which is located at substantially the center of the heating chamber, as shown in Fig. 2.

A thermometer 43 is provided to determine the temperature of the hot air in the chamber 17 and a steam regulator of well known construction is connected to the steam line to provide automatic regulation of the temperature in the heating chamber, in accordance with the particular treating temperature it is desired to obtain. Y

The operation of my apparatus is briefly as follows: Air entering the heating chamber 17 through nozzle 24 is drawn across and upward of the chamber by the blowers 18. The avoring which may be supplied to the steam tank 26 through the container 31 orby means of the natural spices in the basket 27, pass oif in the steam through the'pipe 38 to the superheater 39 from which the vaporized avorings pass through the nozzle 42 into the heating chamber 17 where it commingles with the heated air and the air charged-with the avor is drawn by the blowers 18 and conducted through the pipe line 16 to the smoke chamber 3 by the pipes 15 as shown in Fig. 1.V

Sawdust is packed or banked around the burners 10 in chamber 3 and the burners are ignited to burn the vsawdust to produce the necessary smoke. Once the sawdust is burning, the burners may be shut oi and by the application of the blast of hot air from pipe 15, smoldering of the sawdust is continued without the need of gas which, as hereinbefore stated, produces undesirable properties in the treated meats.

The steam heated and flavored air from the heating chamber Y 17 is conducted through the nozzle 14 or 19 or both into the smoke chamber Where it commingles with the smoke and passes through the perforations of the partition 4 into the upper treating chamber where it contacts with the meat to heat the product suiciently to open the pores which are saturated by the flavoring and the smoke to properly cure the product.`

It is evident from the foregoing description of this invention that by means of the apparatus provided therein the meat to be treated is heated by dry hot air, thus entirely eliminating the gaseous fumes which exist in present day meat smoking plants, and by employing a blast to support combustion of the sawdust after it has been ignited by the burners, the burners may be shut 01T, thus entirely eliminating the hazard of fire.

By utilizing the steam heat it is possible to obtain very close temperature regulation and by employing the flavoring apparatus a suitable iiavoring of uniform quality is obtainable. The avoring is a desirable feature of the invention for the reason that the `sawdust available in commercial quantities for treating meats is of an inferior grade, and is non-productive of high quality avors which may, however, be provided by the apparatus herein described.

Although one embodiment of the invention has been herein described and claimed, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made in the details of constructionwithout departing from the principles herein set forth, as for example, electric heating may be-employed instead of steam.

I claim:

1. The method of curing meats which comprises placing the meats in a treating chamber above a smoke chamber, generating a dry-steam heated air in a separate chamber and conducting it to the smoke chamber below the treating chamber, generating a ameless curing smoke in said smoke chamber independently of the meat heating means and simultaneously passing the smoke and treating medium ,into the treating chamber in uniform contact with the meats in said chamber.

2. The method of curing meats which comprises suspending the meat in a closure constituting a treating chamber, generating a ameless curing smoke in a separate chamber, preparing a drying atmosphere in a mixing chamber, and injecting a vaporized avoring material in said atmosphere, conducting the avored treating atmosphere into said smoke generating chamber and subsequently conducting the co-mingled smoke and flavored treating atmosphere into thev treating chamber in contact with the meat suspended therein.

LEO LAUBHAM. 

